Concert 1
United Nations
Music by Copland, Kodaly, Smetana, Turina, and Villa-Lobos
Saturday, October 27, 8PM
Sunday, October 28, 3PM

Rebecca Jackson, concert director and violin
Jason Calloway, cello
Felix Lawi, piano

Explore the musical cultures of five composers endeavoring to create a new musical identity as they redefine Western European musical traditions and inject a decidedly nationalist flavor into their music. A product of his Spanish ancestry, Turinas music is wedded to a French aesthetic, while Villa-Lobos creates a language and style all his own with his skillful blending of Bach-like counterpoint with a Brazilian sense of harmony and rhythm. Kodaly achieves perhaps the ideal model of Hungarian folk music, inspired by his musicological travels throughout Eastern Europe. In Vitebsk, written early in his career, Copland draws directly upon Russian Jewish melodies. The concert will conclude with a seminal work by the Bohemian Smetana.

Concert 2
Pastoral Fantasy
Music by Clara and Robert Schumann, Bach, Grieg, Pinkham, Nielsen, Krebs and others

Saturday, November 17, 8PM
Sunday, November 18, 3pm

Carol Panofsky, concert director, oboe and English horn
Jeff Gallagher, clarinet
Vlada Moran, piano and organ

Experience the many facets of humankinds yearning for Nature, a fantasy place untroubled by stress and rigid rules. Musical fantasies, unlike sonatas, fugues, and other formal structures, need not follow any particular conventions: thus the composer is completely free to explore the most personal of feelings. Danish composer Carl Nielsen portrays the experience of bone-chilling cold, while American composer Daniel Pinkham studies the nature of the changing light from sunset until dawn. Marion Bauer and Eugene Bozza imagine peaceful, sun-filled places where shepherds play and anything is possible, while Edvard Grieg yearns after simplicity in the form of folk song.

Concert 3
Voices of Hollywood
Music by Anthiel, Copland, Corigliano, Clint Eastwood, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and others

Saturday, January 12, 8 PM
Sunday, January 13, 3 PM

Stephanie Gelman, concert director and flute
Sharon Brook, piano Polly Malan, viola
Carol Panofsky, oboe David Kaun, clarinet
Jennifer Cass, harp Patrick OConnell, guitar

From the introduction of sound in films, composers working in Hollywood have had a major influence on, and in turn been influenced by, music written in the classical tradition. In this innovative program featuring an array of wind and string instruments, we will explore the cinematic music of such diverse composers as George Anthiel, Aaron Copland, John Corigliano, Clint Eastwood, Michael Nyman, Nino Rota, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and John Williams. With a variety of styles, instrumentation, and fascinating background information, this concert highlights chamber works and original sound track compositions from films such as The Red Pony, Bridges Of Madison County, Million Dollar Baby, Schindlers List, The Godfather, The Piano, The Red Violin, and Les Miserables. An Academy Award winning combination!

Concert 4
Sacred and Profane
Five Centuries of Secular and Religious Choral Music
Music by Josquin, Palestrina, Monteverdi, Mozart, Britten, Bloch, Milhaud, and others

Saturday, February 16, 8 PM
Sunday, February 17, 3 PM

Ariose Singers, directed by Michael McGushin
Cynthia Baehr, violin
Irene Herrmann, cello and piano
Sharon Brook, piano

Whether to praise their God or to commemorate the large and small events of daily existence, people have joined their voices in song throughout all of recorded history. Join the 16-voice choir Ariose and three fine instrumentalists as we explore five centuries of choral literature. Presenting pairs of pieces (one sacred, one secular) by some of the worlds greatest composers, this concert will also feature Benjamin Brittens Sacred and Profane, a late work of settings of English medieval lyrics; selections from the Hebrew Sacred Services of Ernest Bloch and Darius Milhaud; and Eric Whitacres Five Hebrew Love Songs. In joy or sorrow, in prayer or at work, in the many aspects of sacred and secular love, we raise our voices in song.

Concert 5
Saints, Sinners, and Sassing Bach:
Music for Flute, Saxophone & Piano
Music by Hartley, Chedeville, Schumann, Pierre Max Dubois, William Grant Still, and others

Saturday, March 15, 8 PM
Sunday, March 16, 3 PM

Ivan Rosenblum, concert director and piano
Dale Wolford, saxophone
Kathleen Purcell, flute

This wildly eclectic and esoteric programming zigzags from Shaker hymn tunes to a rarely performed Baroque flute sonata by Chedeville; from a bravura Robert Schumann gem to a lyrical early 20th century romance for alto saxophone and piano by Afro-American composer William Grant Still. We'll even include an erotic musical tribute to a 1930s movie siren in Koechlin's Epitaphe de Jean Harlow. If this is not enough to tweak your interest, we will conclude this concert with Armando Ghidoni's Classical Fugue Goes Jazz, an irreverent but loving tribute to old J.S. Bach, all performed with the style and pizzazz you've come to expect from a Wolford-Rosenblum program.

Concert 6
Asian Travels
Music by Anderson-Harold, Tcherepnin, Zannoni, Zhou Long, and Rebecca Clarke

Saturday, April 12, 8 PM
Sunday, April 13, 3 PM

Polly Malan, concert director and viola
Charmian Stewart, violin
Kate Rubin, violin
Aria DiSalvio, cello
Susan Bruckner, piano

Journey through Asia as we explore music by Asian and Western composers influenced by the tonal colors and folk songs of the Orient. Experience mysterious Shanghai nights in the 1930s, the life-and-death intrigue at the Peking Opera, and the sound of glittering silk brocades. Evoking these exotic images, Asian Travels includes two West-Coast premieres for string trio, the exquisite Jasmine Swale by Beth Anderson-Harold and the vibrantly dramatic Glimmers of Acceptance by Davide Zannoni. Tcherepnins riveting work for solo cello was recently brought to fame by Yo-Yo Ma as part of his Silk Road Recording Project. Finally, the lusciously romantic Viola Sonata by Rebecca Clarke evokes her travels to China by her playful use of the pentatonic scale.

Special Concert
Celebrating Youth 2008

Saturday, May 10, 8 PM
Kuumbwa Jazz Center

Chamber Music... The Next Generation

This annual concert is the culmination of our Celebrating Youth program. These talented high school musicians and singers have been given the opportunity to be coached by some of the areas best teachers and are working together diligently, learning the intricacies of chamber music performance. You will be delighted as you watch and listen to the next generation performing in a professional setting. Dont miss being there to share their big night and cheer them on!